


Red Tulip

by eorumverba



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8565646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eorumverba/pseuds/eorumverba
Summary: A delicate touch against his ear and Judal whirled to see the boy tucking a flower into his hair, a controlled intensity in his gaze. When he saw Judal looking, he just grinned, “A red tulip. It’d look nice on you…”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Juhaku Week  
> Day Five  
> Prompt One: AU

Judal had never liked flowers.

(He supposed he had, when he was small, and his mom would tickle him with the light brush of a flower against his skin, and he would laugh in her arms and she would hold him close and they were happy

But that was before they’d died and left him _alone_ and)

…Anyway.

He didn’t mind babysitting Gyoku, she was annoying, but fun to tease, so that made up for it. So long as they weren’t going to follow Sinbad again, he didn’t really care _what_ they did.

That was until he saw where she’d dragged him to.

“No.”

Gyoku covered her mouth with her hands (an annoying habit that Judal resolved to break her out of - with however much force it required) and he could tell she was pouting, “But Sinbad’s birth-“

“I said no. Why do you even like him? He’s an idiot, and he’s _old_.”

“You’re just jealous!”

Judal snorted and turned away, “I’m not going in there.”

“Do it or I’ll make sure you don’t get any peaches for a month.”

“…Fine.” (She’d done it before, and she’d do it again. Brat)

The cloying scent of flowers was the first thing that assaulted him, that, and the sight.

“I’d get the calla lilies.” (He knew, from experience, that those were what Sinbad was allergic to)

“No, those don’t look nice. You two are friends,” (Gyoku ignored Judal’s protests that no, they were _not_ friends), “help me pick good ones. It’s his _birthday_.”

The smell was becoming almost over-powering; Judal shook his head. “I can’t even breathe in this shit. I’m waiting outside.”

“But-“

“Can I help you?” A quiet, almost shy (but still firm) voice from behind them.

The first thing Judal noticed about the boy was his scar: a large burn on the left side of his face. And then his eyes (the left was a paler shade of blue than the right, and he couldn’t decide which shade he liked more) and that cute little mole (it was _not cute_ ) and those eyes were staring at him knowingly and he wanted to- 

“I need flowers for my friend’s birthday! Well, he’s not really my friend, but he’s not my b-boyfriend either, but-” Gyoku’s voice died and she buried her face in her hands, “it’s complicated.”

The boy broke his gaze from Judal’s and smiled, “Of course.”

Gyoku beamed at the boy, “Thanks!” And then she was skipping away, peering at the different flowers, chattering away to no-one.

A delicate touch against his ear and Judal whirled to see the boy tucking a flower into his hair, a controlled intensity in his gaze. When he saw Judal looking, he just grinned, “A red tulip. It’d look nice on you…” and then he was following Gyoku, and _no he was not blushing_

When he finally was able to move (no, his knees had not weakened at the boy’s light touch), he heard the boy telling Gyoku the meanings of the flowers he’d chosen.

“Yellow chrysanthemums,” he brushed the bright petals with a finger, “for a secret admirer. Lilacs for a first love. And yellow tulips for someone hopelessly in love.”

“She’s not very secret about it, but other than that, you’re right. Especially on the tulips.” (It got him wondering what the _red_ tulip had meant)

The boy just smiled demurely, “I try to read my customers well. Hakuryuu,” he stuck out a gloved hand and Gyoku shook, introducing the both of them. Judal just scoffed and rejected the hand held out to him (he was _not blushing_ )

And later, when he looked up the meaning of the red tulip, (after rereading the words on the screen several times, and no he was _definitely_ not blushing) he thought he just might like flowers again.

_Red tulip: declaration of love_


End file.
